Brunswick Centre, London 1974

A street-level view of the Brunswick Centre in 1974, showing the bold concrete terraces rising above the original Brunswick Shopping Centre frontage. Designed by Patrick Hodgkinson and completed in the early 1970s, the complex embodied the era’s ambitions for high-density, modern urban living—combining over 500 maisonettes with a traffic-free retail precinct at its base.

In this photograph, the stepped ziggurat profile of the residential blocks dominates the scene, each flat marked by deep balconies and angled glazing intended to maximise light. Below, the shopping centre is still in its formative years, with shops such as Sainsbury’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Biba Bookshop and others beginning to populate the concrete podium. A red Hillman Hunter and a blue Ford Transit add unmistakable 1970s character to the street.

Although often criticised in its early decades for appearing stark or unfinished, the Brunswick’s original vision—a self-contained modernist quarter woven into Bloomsbury—comes through clearly here. This image captures the complex at a time when it was still a fresh expression of Brutalist optimism, long before later refurbishments introduced new colours, cladding and landscaping.